Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein's popular appeal--and his influence on pop culture, seen ineverything from greeting cards to sitcoms--at times overshadows his importance to contemporary art.Yet, examined on its own terms, Lichtenstein's comics-inspired, deadpan artwork remains as trulyunsettling to art-world orthodoxies today as when it first gained wide attention in the early 1960s.Lichtenstein (1923-1997), a central figure in Pop, consistently savaged the rules of painting--whileremaining committed to the most traditional procedures and goals of the medium. (He once said,"The things that I have apparently parodied I actually admire and I really don't know what theimplication of that is.") This book offers the most comprehensive collection of writings onLichtenstein's work to appear in thirty-five years, with early reviews, artist interviews andstatements (some never before published), and recent reassessments. The book includes Donald Judd'sreviews of Lichtenstein's three solo Pop shows in the early 1960s, an essay on the artist's 1969Guggenheim retrospective, interviews that touch on topics ranging from the New York art world toMonet and Matisse, the transcript of a 1995 slide presentation in which Lichtenstein surveyed threedecades of his work, and an in-depth study of Lichtenstein's first Pop painting, Look Mickey (1961).The texts explore Lichtenstein's career across the boundaries of medium and period, excavating earlycritical discussions and surveying more recent reexaminations of his artistic practice. Thecollection will be an indispensable resource for those interested in Lichtenstein, Pop Art, andAmerican culture of the 1960s. ContributorsGraham Bader, Yve-Alain Bois, John Coplans, DavidDeitcher, Hal Foster, John Jones, Donald Judd, Max Kozloff, Jean-Claude Lebensztejn, RoyLichtenstein, Michael Lobel

Graham Bader is Mellon Assistant Professor of Art History at Rice University. He is the editor of the October Files volume Roy Lichtenstein (MIT Press, 2009).